Manufacturing of receiver-in-canal assemblies for hearing aids comprises a step of assembling a receiver housing and a connector housing with an elongated tube configured for transfer of a signal from the connector housing to the receiver housing. The receiver housing is configured to be positioned in or at the ear canal of a user, and is further configured to comprise a receiver which is configured to output sound. The connector housing is configured to be connected to a behind-the-ear part of a hearing aid.
To facilitate positioning of the receiver housing in or at the ear canal and to facilitate positioning of the connector housing on or behind the ear of a user, the elongated tube has to be bent, and in order to ensure that the hearing aid is kept in place it may be an advantage, that the tube is permanently bended, and thus permanently deformed. One way to achieve this is to heat the tube. As both the receiver housing and the connector housing may comprise heat sensitive components, permanent deformation of the elongated tube is traditionally carried out as one of the first steps in the manufacturing process. Subsequently, the receiver housing and the connector housing can be attached to opposite ends of the bended tube.
Assembling of hearing aids comprising a bended tube may result in a high reject rate, as process steps including gluing, soldering, and the like, are difficult and associated with a high error rate due to the very small size of the different elements. This is further hampered by fixtures required to keep the bended tube in a fixed position during assembly as these limit the freedom of handling. One of the problems is that the bended tube, despite the permanent deformation is re-straightened or at least un-bended to a certain degree. Furthermore, the receiver housing and/or the connector housing may be attached at an angle which differs from the required angle. Finally, the assembly process is time consuming.